Further, over 250 ‘Model Polling Stations’ in the theme of ‘Votes and Memories’ made the polling day colourful for the residents of Gautam Budh Nagar district…reports Asian Lite News
Phase I of the polling for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on Thursday saw 59.87 per cent voting, according to the Election Commission of India.
“Phase I has seen 59.87 per cent polling till voting ended,” said the ECI statement said.
The 11 districts that went to polls saw a mixed turnout with Agra witnessing 60.23 per cent voting, Aligarh 60.49 per cent, Bagpat 61.25 per cent, Bulandshahr 60.57 per cent, Gautam Budh Nagar 54.38 per cent, Ghaziabad 52.43 per cent, Hapur 60.53 per cent, Mathura 62.90 per cent, Meerut 60 per cent, Muzaffarnagar 65.32 per cent and Shamli 66.14 saw per cent, the EC statistics showed.
Of the total 403 seats in UP assembly, voting for 58 seats of the phase I of the seven-phase elections is being held on Thursday. There are a total of 634 candidates in fray, 73 of them are women. As many as 2.28 crore voters (1.04 of them female) will exercise their franchise at 26,027 polling booths across 10,853 polling stations in 11 districts.
Model booths
Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Budh Nagar district, which went to the polls on Thursday in the first phase of the state Assembly elections, sought to showcase vibrant colours of democracy by setting up model booths in a bid to make people feel the essence of elections and increased turnout.
Notably, in the last few elections, the voting percentage of the Gautam Budh Nagar district has been very less. Especially, in the Noida Assembly constituency, the voter turnout has not even been 50 per cent.
To increase the voter turnout, the administration has this year taken several concrete steps such as providing facilities of a waiting area, clean drinking water, toilets and voter assistance booths at the polling stations.
Further, over 250 ‘Model Polling Stations’ in the theme of ‘Votes and Memories’ made the polling day colourful for the residents of Gautam Budh Nagar district.
The Model Polling Booths were accurately decorated to exhibit the importance of voting and make the voters celebrate the festival of democracy. From the entrance till exit at the polling centre, the voters were surprised to see the arrangements made by the district administration. Every entrance of the model polling station was decorated with balloons in the colour of the Indian national flag.
Similarly, the first time voters were given a “Thank You” card that was also made by the students and the teachers while the senior citizens were given a badge reading “I am a proud voter”.
The authorities had also put up a ‘Selfie Corner’ outside the polling station which remained the main attraction not only for the young generation but also for the elderly, who were also seen clicking their pictures. (with inputs from Ujwal Jalali/IANS)
